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Griffiths tops Tour D’Espoirs

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Capping an excellent weekend for the Linda McCartney
Foods team, following David Mackenzie’s Giro stage win, James Griffiths took the
second round of the BCF’s National Under-23 Road Race Series, the Arctic 2000 Tour
D’Espoirs in Worcestershire.

A field of 70 riders rode out of Ankerdine village to tackle 4 laps of 20 miles each.
The climb of Ankerdine Hill was the hardest of several tough climbs on a testing
course which pushed the country’s best young riders to the limit.

The race had only travelled 7 miles when a rider clipped an innocuously parked car
and brought down approximately 20 of the bunch. One rider retired with a suspected
broken collarbone and World Class Potential rider James Shaw, who was also involved,
rode the rest of the race with a broken finger. Team Alsager/Addidas manager, John
Herety, who witnessed the crash from the race convoy said: "It was just one
of those things. The organisation of the race was excellent and the police presence
was good throughout. Accidents happen – no one was really to blame." Among those
involved in the crash was round one winner Steve Cummings and, although he was able
to re-join the main field, the effort needed to do so prevented him from making any
further impression on the race.

At the end of the first lap, a five-man break went away, comprising of Tom Southam,
Lee Finch (son of the race organiser), Mark Perry, Tim Morley and James Griffiths.
By the end of lap two (half distance), they had opened up a gap of 2 minutes over
the rest of the field. Even further back was one of the pre-race favourites, Robin
Sharman, who having snapped his chain, had to collect a bike from neutral service.
Left at the roadside, adjusting the seat height of a bike clearly too big for him,
Sharman rode brilliantly to get back into the race.

With the break clearly not coming back, Jamie Alberts, Dan Bridges (both Alsager-Addidas)
and Dan Lloyd went off the front of the main bunch and set about bridging the gap.
Behind them Robin Sharman followed, having caught and passed the main bunch. All
four made the front group which briefly swelled to nine riders, but a series of attacks
by Jamie Alberts and counters by Griffiths soon fragmented it. As the pace picked
up during the run-in, Bridges, Morley and Perry all lost contact followed, in the
last couple of miles, by Lee Finch. Coming into the finish Griffiths and Alberts
moved clear and it was Griffiths who proved himself strongest on the day, outsprinting
Alberts to take a convincing victory. In the sprint for third, Tom Southam was caught
on the line by Robin Sharman.

James Griffiths’ victory capped a wonderful couple of days for McCartney team manager
Chris Lillywhite. First he enjoyed David Mackenzie’s Giro heroics from the team car,
then flew home and watched his beloved Chelsea take the FA Cup before finally returning
to his managerial duties and guiding Griffiths to an excellent win. Not a bad couple
of days in and out of the office!

The race was also notable for the presence of several of the country’s leading mountain
bikers, with the World Class Performance Plan’s Team Y2K, Raleigh’s Dan Lloyd and
Mark Perry all part of the fat-tyre brigade. There were also a couple of outstanding
performances from Junior riders, with the Isle of Wight’s Keiran Page finishing 12th
and Y2K’s Liam Killeen 19th.

At the finish, WCPP National Road Team Manager John Herety spoke about the race and
the performance of his team (Alsager-Addidas) who could not repeat their total domination
of the first round of the series:

"First I’d like to congratulate James Griffiths on his victory. He was the strongest
rider on the day and deserved it. Our lads rode well, but we’ve just finished a hard
week of training and basically they came to this race less well prepared than the
last one. During the race, we made just one real mistake: we should have had more
than one rider in the break when it went. Jamie Alberts is going very well, but bridging
a gap of over two minutes took it out of him and Dan Lloyd. I was also pleased with
Tom Southam’s work at the front."

The 3rd round of the series, the Colour-Tech Road Race, is next Sunday (28th May)
– Race HQ is in Edenbridge, Kent. Start 10am.

Arctic 2000 Tour D’Espoirs

Ankerdine, Worcestershire Sunday 21st May 2000

Results (provisional) James Griffiths (Linda McCartney/WCU)

Jamie Alberts (Team Alsager/Adidas) st

Robin Sharman (Alysys Bradgate) @ 10s

Tom Southam (Team Alsager/Adidas) st

Daniel Loyd (Raleigh Factory) st

Lee Finch (Arctic 2000) @ 20s

Mark Perry (Western Division) @ 50s

Tim morley (Team Y2K) st

Dan Bridges (Team Alsager/Adidas) @ 2.50

Phil Nixon st

Series Standings after 2 rounds (provisional)

1. Jamie Alberts (Team Alsager/Adidas) 36 points

2. Robin Sharman (Alysys Bradgate) 32

3. James Griffiths (Linda McCartney/WCU) 30

4. Tom Southam (Team Alsager/Adidas) 29

5= Lee Finch (Arctic 2000) 21

5= Daniel Lloyd (Raleigh Factory) 21

7. Steven Cummings (Team Alsager/Adidas) 20

Griffiths tops Tour D’Espoirs

Capping an excellent weekend for the Linda McCartney Foods team, following David
Mackenzie’s Giro stage win, James Griffiths took the second round of the BCF’s National
Under-23 Road Race Series, the Arctic 2000 Tour D’Espoirs in Worcestershire.

A field of 70 riders rode out of Ankerdine village to tackle 4 laps of 20 miles each.
The climb of Ankerdine Hill was the hardest of several tough climbs on a testing
course which pushed the country’s best young riders to the limit.

The race had only travelled 7 miles when a rider clipped an innocuously parked car
and brought down approximately 20 of the bunch. One rider retired with a suspected
broken collarbone and World Class Potential rider James Shaw, who was also involved,
rode the rest of the race with a broken finger. Team Alsager/Addidas manager, John
Herety, who witnessed the crash from the race convoy said: "It was just one
of those things. The organisation of the race was excellent and the police presence
was good throughout. Accidents happen – no one was really to blame." Among those
involved in the crash was round one winner Steve Cummings and, although he was able
to re-join the main field, the effort needed to do so prevented him from making any
further impression on the race.

At the end of the first lap, a five-man break went away, comprising of Tom Southam,
Lee Finch (son of the race organiser), Mark Perry, Tim Morley and James Griffiths.
By the end of lap two (half distance), they had opened up a gap of 2 minutes over
the rest of the field. Even further back was one of the pre-race favourites, Robin
Sharman, who having snapped his chain, had to collect a bike from neutral service.
Left at the roadside, adjusting the seat height of a bike clearly too big for him,
Sharman rode brilliantly to get back into the race.

With the break clearly not coming back, Jamie Alberts, Dan Bridges (both Alsager-Addidas)
and Dan Lloyd went off the front of the main bunch and set about bridging the gap.
Behind them Robin Sharman followed, having caught and passed the main bunch. All
four made the front group which briefly swelled to nine riders, but a series of attacks
by Jamie Alberts and counters by Griffiths soon fragmented it. As the pace picked
up during the run-in, Bridges, Morley and Perry all lost contact followed, in the
last couple of miles, by Lee Finch. Coming into the finish Griffiths and Alberts
moved clear and it was Griffiths who proved himself strongest on the day, outsprinting
Alberts to take a convincing victory. In the sprint for third, Tom Southam was caught
on the line by Robin Sharman.

James Griffiths’ victory capped a wonderful couple of days for McCartney team manager
Chris Lillywhite. First he enjoyed David Mackenzie’s Giro heroics from the team car,
then flew home and watched his beloved Chelsea take the FA Cup before finally returning
to his managerial duties and guiding Griffiths to an excellent win. Not a bad couple
of days in and out of the office!

The race was also notable for the presence of several of the country’s leading mountain
bikers, with the World Class Performance Plan’s Team Y2K, Raleigh’s Dan Lloyd and
Mark Perry all part of the fat-tyre brigade. There were also a couple of outstanding
performances from Junior riders, with the Isle of Wight’s Keiran Page finishing 12th
and Y2K’s Liam Killeen 19th.

At the finish, WCPP National Road Team Manager John Herety spoke about the race and
the performance of his team (Alsager-Addidas) who could not repeat their total domination
of the first round of the series:

"First I’d like to congratulate James Griffiths on his victory. He was the strongest
rider on the day and deserved it. Our lads rode well, but we’ve just finished a hard
week of training and basically they came to this race less well prepared than the
last one. During the race, we made just one real mistake: we should have had more
than one rider in the break when it went. Jamie Alberts is going very well, but bridging
a gap of over two minutes took it out of him and Dan Lloyd. I was also pleased with
Tom Southam’s work at the front."

The 3rd round of the series, the Colour-Tech Road Race, is next Sunday (28th May)
– Race HQ is in Edenbridge, Kent. Start 10am.

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